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CHLORINE

7782-50-5


Hazard Summary


CAUTION: Unless otherwise noted, the quantitative information on these fact sheets are from "EPA Health Effects Notebook for Hazardous Air Pollutants-Draft", EPA-452/D-95-00, PB95-503579, December 1994." Please conduct a current literature search and check the appropriate current online database for the most recent quantitative information.

Please Note: The main source of information for this fact sheet is EPA's Drinking Water Criteria Document for Chlorine, Hypochlorous Acid and Hypochlorite Ion. Other secondary sources include the Hazardous Substances Data Bank (HSDB), a database of summaries of peer-reviewed literature, and the Registry of Toxic Effects of Chemical Substances (RTECS), a database of toxic effects that are not peer reviewed.

Environmental/Occupational Exposure

Assessing Personal Exposure

Health Hazard Information


Acute Effects:
Chronic Effects (Noncancer):
Reproductive/Developmental Effects:
Cancer Risk:

Physical Properties

Uses



Conversion Factors:
To convert from ppm to mg/m3: mg/m3 = (ppm) × (molecular weight of the compound)/(24.45). For chlorine: 1 ppm = 2.9 mg/m3. Health Data from Inhalation Exposure

Concentration (mg/m3)
Health numbersa
Regulatory, advisory numbersb
Reference
1,000,000.0


--
--
--
--
100,000.0



--
--
--
--
10,000.0



--
--
--
--
1,000.0



--
--
--
--
100.0
  • LC50 (rats) (849 mg/m3)
  • LC50 (mice) (397 mg/m3)

5

5
--
--
--
--
10.0



--
--
--
--
1.0

  • OSHA PEL and ACGIH TLV (3 mg/m3)
  • OSHA PEL, ACGIH TLV, and NIOSH REL (1.5 mg/m3)
4

4

ACGIH TLV--American Conference of Governmental and Industrial Hygienists' threshold limit value expressed as a time-weighted average; the concentration of a substance to which most workers can be exposed without adverse effects.
LC50 (Lethal Concentration50)--A calculated concentration of a chemical in air to which exposure for a specific length of time is expected to cause death in 50% of a defined experimental animal population.
NIOSH REL--National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health's recommended exposure limit; NIOSH-recommended exposure limit for an 8- or 10-h time-weighted-average exposure and/or ceiling.
OSHA PEL--Occupational Safety and Health Administration's permissible exposure limit expressed as a time-weighted average; the concentration of a substance to which most workers can be exposed without adverse effects averaged over a normal 8-h workday or a 40-h workweek.

a Health numbers are toxicological numbers from animal testing or risk assessment values developed by EPA.
b Regulatory numbers are values that have been incorporated in Government regulations, while advisory numbers are nonregulatory values provided by the Government or other groups as advice.

References

  1. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Drinking Water Criteria Document for Chlorine, Hypochlorous Acid and Hypochlorite Ion. (External Review Draft.) Environmental Criteria and Assessment Office, Office of Health and Environmental Assessment, Cincinnati, OH. 1992.
  2. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) on Chlorine. Environmental Criteria and Assessment Office, Office of Health and Environmental Assessment, Office of Research and Development, Cincinnati, OH. 1993.
  3. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Hazardous Substances Data Bank (HSDB, online database). National Toxicology Information Program, National Library of Medicine, Bethesda, MD. 1993.
  4. E.J. Calabrese and E.M. Kenyon. Air Toxics and Risk Assessment. Lewis Publishers, Chelsea, MI. 1991.
  5. R.D. Morris, A. Audet, I.F. Angelillo, T. C. Chalmers, and F. Mosteller. Chlorination, Chlorination by-products, and cancer: A meta-analysis. American Journal of Public Health, 82(7):955-977. 1992.
  6. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Ambient Water Quality Criteria for Chlorine. EPA 440/5-84-030. Office of Water Regulations and Standards, Washington, DC. 1985.
  7. American Council of Government of Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH). Documentation of the Threshold Limit Values. Fourth Edition. Cincinnati, OH. 1986.
  8. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Registry of Toxic Effects of Chemical Substances (RTECS, online database). National Toxicology Information Program, National Library of Medicine, Bethesda, MD. 1993.
  9. J.E. Amoore and E. Hautala. Odor as an aid to chemical safety: Odor thresholds compared with threshold limit values and volatilities for 214 industrial chemicals in air and water dilution. Journal of Applied Toxicology, 3(6):272-290. 1983.

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